


When Winter Comes

by ByrantFrost



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Cat marrys Tywin, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Robb does die though, Robb had ten children, Robb kneels, Tommen also dies but again it's not graphic or anything, Very Canon Divergent, the major character death is not graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 5,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23676289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByrantFrost/pseuds/ByrantFrost
Summary: “The North will be independent.” Robb lowered his voice. “It might be that none of us in this room see it. But I swear to you, the child my wife carries will not grow up to love the Lannisters. He will grow up with a North free of southern chains in the back of his mind. For now Winter is coming, we must take back our land or Northern independence will mean nothing.”Robb gives up his crown but not his hope that someday the North will be free.  A collection of Vignettes following Robb and his sons in their quest for Northern freedom.
Kudos: 9





	1. A Promise

**Author's Note:**

> So a note on the canon divergence: Joffery dies before the Red Wedding, and the Red Wedding never happens. Robb gives up his throne before that. Cat also never let Jaime go. The Nightwalker stuff is put on pause for twenty or so years which means Ben probably just died in a ranging? The Nightwalker stuff will come up but Benjen doesn't. 
> 
> The Vignettes are chronological The first two taking place during the war the third taking place quite a few years later.
> 
> The dire wolves live as long as their humans because I said so. 
> 
> Title from the Miracle of Sound song of the Same name 
> 
> A list of Robb's kids at the end if you want.

Riverrun

“This changes nothing.” Robb said, crumpling the paper in his hand. It _was_ good news, he supposed. Though he didn’t see how one Lannister king was any better than another Lannister king. Not when the new king was so young it would _decades_ before he took the throne in his own right. 

“They said your sister has disappeared, all the more reason to-” Robb looked at the Greatjon sharply, the man stopped talking though Robb knew he was not the only who was unhappy with the way things had gone. _Robb_ wasn’t happy with the way things had gone. 

“Your Grace, with a _boy_ on the throne-” 

“Did you think it was Joffrey Lannister making battle decisions? Do you truly think anything the Lannisters do is done without Tywin’s approval?” Robb scoffed. “No, this just gives Tywin longer to be king of the seven kingdoms.” Perhaps this was not the good news it had seemed when he had first read it. Joffrey killed Robb’s father, but he was closer to eighteen than Tommen was. If such a cruel boy had grown into a king half as bad as Areys it would not be hard for the North to unite to take him down in a few years but now- Robb sighed. 

“The North _will_ be independent.” Robb lowered his voice. “It might be that none of us in this room see it. But I swear to you, the child my wife carries will not grow up to love the Lannisters. He will grow up with a North free of southern chains in the back of his mind. For now Winter is coming, we must take back our land or Northern independence will mean nothing.” The men took that as their dismissal, which was well enough because it was meant to be. 

As Robb watched his men leave his uncle’s great hall, he wondered what his father would think of this. His mother said Lord Stark would be proud of him. Though Robb knew it was hardly honorable to swear fealty, knowing full well there was no intention to keep it longer than it served a purpose. He could not imagine that it would be something his father would approve of. 

“I do it for you father.” Robb said. He would spend the night in the godswood, in front of a weirwood tree, asking the gods to forgive him for what he was about to do. “I do it for the brother and sister you lost, I do it for your father, for the harm that has come to my sisters.” It was not just for them, it was for all the North. The North that had so little to give but still sent taxes south. The North, who the lords in the south laughed at. The North and their old gods, the old way. If the North was not its own ruler soon, it might lose the old way. 


	2. Torrhen Kneels Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a note on the canon divergence: Joffery dies before the Red Wedding, and the Red Wedding never happens. Robb gives up his throne before that. Cat also never let Jaime go. The Nightwalker stuff is put on pause for twenty or so years which means Ben probably just died in a ranging? The Nightwalker stuff will come up but Benjen doesn't.
> 
> The Vignettes are chronological The first two taking place during the war the third taking place quite a few years later.
> 
> The dire wolves live as long as their humans because I said so.
> 
> Title from the Miracle of Sound song of the Same name
> 
> A list of Robb's kids at the end if you want.

King's Landing

Robb placed his crown at the foot of the Iron Throne. He did not blush as a boy king looked down on him. It was those that surrounded the boy that worried Robb the most. Tywin to Tommen’s right and his mother to Tommen’s left, Jaime in front of him. They had cleaned the Kingslayer up before the ceremony, looking pretty in his white armor and white cloak as he stood just half a foot from where Robb had placed the crown. 

The terms of peace were as good for the Lannisters and as dim for the North as the two crowns were. The Lannisters got their eldest son back. Tywin would marry Lady Catelyn Stark, and would direct all military endeavors to retake Winterfell and the North. It was not all bleak for the North. Both girls, if they ever found Arya, would return to Winterfell, by the grace of the gods they had agreed to end Sansa’s marriage to Tyrion, and Robb would keep his life, and his castle. There was no mention of the title of Warden of the North, Robb had not pushed. It would not matter. Not when the Starks were the Kings of the North again. 

Robb took two steps back and knelt down, his lords behind him doing the same. He had not wanted to bring everyone with him for fear of a trap, but what option did they have? 

“I swear fealty to house Baratheon.” Robb said, glad it rubbed every Lannister in the room the wrong way. If they wanted to pretend Tommen was King Robert Baratheon’s child then it was Robert's house he would pledge fealty. In the end, it only meant his children would not be breaking any oath when the day finally came. “I swear on the old gods and the new that I will be faithful to the King on the Iron throne, to never again cause him harm, nor take up sword against him. I will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit.” 

Robb listened as the Lords behind him swore the same. His knees ached and his crown called out to him, but he did not rise. 

“And why should we not kill you where you stand?” Cersei asked, Robb grinned up at her, Grey Wind snarling by his side. 

“Because your Grace, my men drug their feet following me here. If you kill me, the North will never again come quietly.” 

Perhaps, if there had not been so much animosity in the air that one could cut it like a knife, a feast would have been held. Instead, the North men packed their bags, spending the night in the shadow of the Red Keep, and were off at first light with a host of Lannister men to take back the North. Hurried off before his mother’s wedding. He had hated the match, but she had agreed, and quicker than he had. With his brothers dead, should his wife produce no sons- no he would have Sansa married soon enough, she would have children before inheritance ever got confused. Besides, it was Riverrun Tywin was after. Should Edmure have no sons, any son his mother might give Lord Lannister would be heir to Riverrun. Robb just hoped Edmure got married soon. Perhaps to a Frey, there were fertile enough. 

Despite the almost rude send off Robb was smiling more than any of his men; he knew they all thought him a fool, at least the ones who did not know his intentions. But he could not help it. He had given up a crown, but he knew he had secured a kingdom. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robb's children  
> Eddard  
> Hoster  
> Brandon  
> Catelyn  
> Lyanna  
> Arya  
> Torrhen  
> Benjen  
> Sybil  
> Sansa


	3. To Save Us From Dragons, To Save Us From Lions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a note on the canon divergence: Joffery dies before the Red Wedding, and the Red Wedding never happens. Robb gives up his throne before that. Cat also never let Jaime go. The Nightwalker stuff is put on pause for twenty or so years which means Ben probably just died in a ranging? The Nightwalker stuff will come up but Benjen doesn't.
> 
> The Vignettes are chronological The first two taking place during the war the third taking place quite a few years later.
> 
> The dire wolves live as long as their humans because I said so.
> 
> Title from the Miracle of Sound song of the Same name
> 
> A list of Robb's kids at the end if you want.

Winterfell

“And what did the maester teach you today?” Robb asked, pulling his fourth son Torrhen on to his knee. 

“We learned about the Kings of Winter.” The boy’s eyes lit up. He was only five yet, but Robb could tell he would be as fierce as his elder brothers. 

“Tell me what you learned then.” Robb prompted, listening as his son told him of the more notable kings. 

“And King Torrhen gave up the north.” The boy looked up at his father, frowning. “Why did you name me after the stupid king who knelt? Ned is named after your dad, and Hoster is named after your grandpa.” 

Robb ruffled his young boy’s hair. “Do you know why King Torrhen knelt?” 

“To save them all from the dragons.” The boy’s eyes were as wide as Robb was sure his eyes had been when he contemplated dragons at Torrhen’s age. 

“To save his people from dragon fire.” Robb confirmed. “Did you learn that I too was a king who knelt?” Robb asked. 

The boy bit his lip but eventually nodded. “Do you know why  _ I _ knelt?” 

“Because- because the Greyjoys took your castle,” At this Robb shook his head. 

“I knelt because if I had kept on, we would have lost as surely as king Torrhen would have lost against the dragons. I married your mother for her honor, which broke an oath I had made, my enemy would have ended me if I had not knelt.” 

The little boy nodded as if he understood. Robb knew he didn’t, not yet, but he would some day, the way his older brothers now understood. 

“If the dragons had killed all of King Torrhen’s men, would my lords ever have named me King?” 

“They would all be dead, even you?” Robb smiled, maybe the boy would get it sooner than his brothers had. 

“And if I had let the Lannisters wipe us out, would your big brother Ned ever have the chance to be Lord of Winterfell?” The little boy shook his head. 

“But that’s just Lord.” Torrhen said. 

“It’s not such a big step from Lord to King for a Stark.” Robb said, ruffling his son’s hair. “There are no more dragons, and one day the Lions will be weak. King Torrhen saved his people and because of that there was hope for the future. Your name need not remind you of the king who knelt, but the king who gave his people hope.” 

Robb watched the boy take that in. It was as good as treason should the Lannisters ever find out. But otherwise he had been as faithful as he had promised he would be. It was not just hope for the North to govern itself that Robb had named his youngest son after. The first three children Jeyne had given Robb were sons, but after that three daughters. Robb loved them all dearly, but assumed his luck with the gods had run out, and only then had Jeyne given him another son. She was again pregnant, and either the count of boys to girls would even out again, or the gods would bless him with a son. Robb knew he would not mind either way. 

When it seemed his son understood the lesson as best he would for the moment, Robb grinned down at Torrhen. 

“Besides, you only spoke of Ned and Hoster. Your other brother shares a name with how many other Brandons do you think?” the boy’s eyes went wide, as if he were trying to count all the different Brandon Starks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robb's children  
> Eddard  
> Hoster  
> Brandon  
> Catelyn  
> Lyanna  
> Arya  
> Torrhen  
> Benjen*  
> Sybil*  
> Sansa*  
> *not yet born


	4. You Married a King

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a note on the canon divergence: Joffery dies before the Red Wedding, and the Red Wedding never happens. Robb gives up his throne before that. Cat also never let Jaime go. The Nightwalker stuff is put on pause for twenty or so years which means Ben probably just died in a ranging? The Nightwalker stuff will come up but Benjen doesn't.
> 
> The Vignettes are chronological The first two taking place during the war the third taking place quite a few years later.
> 
> The dire wolves live as long as their humans because I said so.
> 
> Title from the Miracle of Sound song of the Same name
> 
> A list of Robb's kids at the end if you want.

Winterfell 

“Our sons may marry southern Ladies.” Robb said, his hands on his desk. It was not the first time they had had this argument. It was not a question he would ever budge on. “But our daughters stay in the North.” Jeyne sighed, and Robb almost felt bad. He did not hesitate in letting her run the castle as she thought it should be, so long as she ran it in a good Northern fashion. He went to her for counsel in most matters. But how it must hurt her to know her husband would hardly listen when they discussed her children’s marriage. 

“Yes, but our sons may not marry Southern women whose fathers have no heirs.” She said, her voice thick with mockery. “We have four sons, and four daughters to marry off. How will we find enough Northern Lords and Ladies for all our children?” 

“You married a King, I will have your son or grandson be king.” Robb knew his voice was full of more ice than he meant. If Grey Wind had been in the room, he would have growled. 

“Yet you let Brandon go join the Night’s Watch.” Jeyne’s voice held no more mockery, in its place hurt. Robb almost thought to tell her that it was a blessing that Brandon had left, if she was so worried about finding all their children a match. Finding a wife for four sons was easier than five.

“The Night’s Watch is an honorable calling. The Starks have manned the wall for as long as it has stood. Brandon the Builder was-” 

“Spare me the lecture on Stark history _Maester_ Robb. All you do is look back, you can’t see that the Night’s Watch is full of thieves, rapers, and bastards now.” 

Robb slammed his hands down on the desk, standing up straight. “I will remind you it is my  _ bastard  _ brother who is Lord Commander of these thieves and rapers. My daughters will not go south so that their husbands might hold them hostage, and my sons will stay north so they might some day take back what is theirs.”

He was sure the fight was over. They would drop the topic of Cat’s marriage for now. She would still be old enough to wed on the marrow, and their blood will have cooled. He was sitting back down in his chair as his wife was walking out of the room. Only when she reached the door did she turn around again. 

“And what of your half brother who Lord Tywin made his heir to Casterly Rock, is he one of the Lannisters you would see your sons kill?” She did not wait for an answer before she walked out of the room. 

“I sold my mother to the Lannisters.” Robb said, though there was no longer anyone around to hear. “But any new son of hers is a Lannister now, I am sorry mother but I can not love your son Tryston as I love my other brothers.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robb's children  
> Eddard  
> Hoster  
> Brandon  
> Catelyn  
> Lyanna  
> Arya  
> Torrhen  
> Benjen  
> Sybil  
> Sansa


	5. A King Dies, A King is Born

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a note on the canon divergence: Joffery dies before the Red Wedding, and the Red Wedding never happens. Robb gives up his throne before that. Cat also never let Jaime go. The Nightwalker stuff is put on pause for twenty or so years which means Ben probably just died in a ranging? The Nightwalker stuff will come up but Benjen doesn't.
> 
> The Vignettes are chronological The first two taking place during the war the third taking place quite a few years later.
> 
> The dire wolves live as long as their humans because I said so.
> 
> Title from the Miracle of Sound song of the Same name
> 
> A list of Robb's kids at the end if you want.

Winterfell

“Father!” Robb looked up from the letter he was writing as four of his sons pushed through the door, each bigger than the one in front him. They crowded the room, all of them near grown, but still there seemed there might be room for their brother Brandon if he had not left for the wall. 

The boys, Robb did not think he would ever quit calling them boys, all had snow in their hair. Their dark Stark hair. He did not know where it came from, and he wished they had more of The Tully look in him if only to honor his mother. Besides the Spring snow in their hair, they all had matching grins. Grins which favored their mother, something Robb was forever grateful for. All his children smiled like their mother the gods favored him. 

“King Tommen,” the youngest of the boys, Benjen said as his brothers jostled amongst themselves. “We were coming from the training yard and-” 

“We ran into Maester Edwyle.” Hoster said as Ned the eldest and biggest of them all finally pushed through the wall the other three had made waving a sopping wet piece of parchment in his hand. 

“The king is dead.” Ned said, the boys looked to each other grinning. Robb held his hand out for the parchment. Though he could read it perfectly he had half a mind to chastise his sons, they might have ruined the message did they think of that? Had any bothered to memorize the message.  


The youngest three brothers were grinning but, the look on Ned’s face was grim. The boy reminded Robb so much of his father that he could almost believe naming his son Ned had brought his father back from the dead. It was Ned who knew what this might mean, Ned who had grown up with the weight of a phantom crown on his shoulders. 

“King Tommen had seven daughters.” Robb said looking out at his sons, Torrhen leered at his younger brother. 

“Everyone said the Seven looked down on him in favor. If so, it was not in favor of him keeping the throne.” The younger two boys laughed with Torrhen, but the jest did not lift the grim look from Ned’s face. 

“Those are your mother’s gods you joke about.” Robb reminded his sons. He had tried to let his sons grow up as he had, worshiping both the old gods and the new. But all his sons and all his daughters had flocked to the Heart Tree, leaving the Sept for their mother’s lonely worship. 

“Will we go to war?” Hoster asked. 

“Will you be King again?” Benjen asked. 

“Will we finally be free?” Torrhen asked. 

It was Robb’s eldest son who answered, “We must call our Bannerman first to discuss.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robb's children  
> Eddard  
> Hoster  
> Brandon  
> Catelyn  
> Lyanna  
> Arya  
> Torrhen  
> Benjen  
> Sybil  
> Sansa


	6. The Choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a note on the canon divergence: Joffery dies before the Red Wedding, and the Red Wedding never happens. Robb gives up his throne before that. Cat also never let Jaime go. The Nightwalker stuff is put on pause for twenty or so years which means Ben probably just died in a ranging? The Nightwalker stuff will come up but Benjen doesn't.
> 
> The Vignettes are chronological The first two taking place during the war the third taking place quite a few years later.
> 
> The dire wolves live as long as their humans because I said so.
> 
> Title from the Miracle of Sound song of the Same name
> 
> A list of Robb's kids at the end if you want.

The Wall 

Though he wanted to cry Jon did not, there would be time for that later. Now he must be the Lord Commander, and give this terrible news to a Brother. That Brother would want to cry as well, but Jon assumed he would not, not here where Jon would see.  


“Lord Commander you sent for me?” 

“Sit down Brandon.” The boy, and how could Jon ever think of him as anything but a boy? He was older than Jon had been when they had named him Lord Commander. He’d spent a winter on the wall, and somehow it was like summer still clung to him. 

“I believe you will have in front of you the same choice to make that I had to make when I first joined the watch.” The boy said nothing, so Jon pressed on. “We have received word that the Lannisters killed your father, my brother, when he was attending King Tommen’s funeral.” 

Brandon shook his head, and Jon wished he could offer more comfort. It was not just his station as Lord Commander that stayed his hand. He knew what turmoil must be going on in Brandon’s head. How he had fled when the Lannisters had killed his father. _And I was only a_ _bastard_ Jon thought. Robb had been Brandon's true born father, and he didn't know if that made a difference, didn't know if it _should_ make a difference.  


“You said there is a choice.” The boy finally said looking up. Jon saw tears in Brandon’s eyes and wished Brandon was still the young boy Robb had brought North to visit the wall. Wished he could pull Brandon into a hug and tell him it would all be okay.  


“When I first joined the watch, The Lannisters killed my father. It was not long after that the Northern Lords crowned my brother King in the North.” 

The boy shook his head, “Ned doesn’t want to be king.” 

“Neither did your father. But he spent the rest of his life preparing his sons so that one day his eldest might be.” Brandon looked as if he might argue but then stayed his tongue. They sat in quiet for a long time before Brandon spoke up. 

“And the Watch will take no part?”

Jon shook his head, looking out the small window, “They say spring has come, Have you ever lived though a spring Brandon?”

“Not one that I remember.” 

“In spring the days get longer, the temperature rises, and the animals come back. How many of those things have happened?” Jon asked, standing so he could walk to his window and look out on the training ground. He did not have enough men, the wall never had enough men. He did not know how long it had been since the Wall might have been properly manned.  


“None of them.” Brandon's voice came out halting, as if realizing what Jon was saying. His eyes, were wide, the tears near gone now, replaced with something like fear.  


“And they say it's been Spring for months. I fear something is coming Brandon. Now more than ever the Night’s Watch must focus on our mission.” Brandon’s face screwed up at that. 

“Keeping Wildlings out? If Spring truly hasn’t come, then the Wildlings won’t come either.” 

“Brandon the Builder built the wall some three thousand years ago. The wall is seven hundred feet all, and some say he used magic to build it. You don’t build a wall like that to keep people out. We need to learn why the wall was built Brandon, and we need to do it before the reason comes knocking at our door.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robb's children  
> Eddard  
> Hoster  
> Brandon  
> Catelyn  
> Lyanna  
> Arya  
> Torrhen  
> Benjen  
> Sybil  
> Sansa


	7. A Dialogue Between Mothers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for rape mention. It's breif and not graphic.

King’s Landing 

“You’re a greater fool than I ever believed, Cersei, I only wonder if the gods will remember you as a kinslayer.” 

“He was not my half brother, nor are you my mother. No matter how many marriage vows you and my father traded. Robb Stark was planning treason.” 

“It is not an idle threat to say the North Remembers. It remembers King Torrhen who knelt, it remembers Rickard and Brandon Stark who King Areys killed and Lyanna Stark who his son kidnaped and raped. The North remembers how slow your father was to come to the aid of Ned and Robert almost forty years ago. The North remembers Eddard Stark and the wrongs done to my daughters. The unfavorable peace treaty, and all the Northmen your father killed. And now they will remember this. If you take up arms against the North when they declare their freedom, and I am sure they will, they will not care that the Lord of Casterly Rock is Robb Stark’s half brother. The North remembers Cersei, and in a hundred years they might be the only ones who remember the Lannisters because they had the pleasure of ending your family line.” 

“Do not threaten me, or you’ll be a traitor as well.” 

“If I am a traitor then kill me, let me rest with my family.” 


	8. King of the North

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mentions of rape again

Winterfell 

Torrhen looked out at his Brother’s bannermen, and they  _ were _ his brother’s now. They should have called this meeting  _ before _ their father had left for the south. He was right that it would look like they were planning something, but now their father was dead and they  _ were _ planning something. They were arguing about the best course of action now, Ned had let the Lords talk among themselves but Torrhen was tiring of it. He looked over at Ned who was bent over talking to Hoster, so Torrhen took it on himself to bring the Lords of the North to heed.

“Northmen!” Torrhen shouted, hoping his brothers would not stop him. “Before I or my brothers were born, before my Lord Father was born, My great grandfather went south to swear fealty, King Aerys killed Lord Rickard and his son while his daughter was being raped by the King’s son.” 

The Northmen nodded. They all knew the story. Torrhen looked behind him to see Hoster looking amused, an eyebrow raised. Ned looked stony, as always. Like as not everyone in the room knew what was coming, so Torren continued. 

“And then my Grandfather Ned Stark went south when his king called him. When he found out that the sons of the queen were bastard children, that Stannis Baratheon was the true King they named him a traitor and killed him too.” The men whispered to themselves for a moment but quieted when Thorren took a breath. 

“Some of you in this room named my father King in the North years ago. For some of you it was your father’s who named my father King in the North. But we had stretched our army thin, and a choice between my father’s honor and his wives honor nearly destroyed the North.” 

It was risky, Torrhen knew, mentioning the wedding that almost undid the North. He could tell Hoster was not happy with him having mentioned it. But it was part of their history. His father had knelt to save them. 

“We knelt to the Targayrans because they would surely destroy us with dragon fire. We knelt to the Lannisters in order to give ourselves hope of one day being free of the tyranny of the south. We found out not long ago that the Lannisters have killed my Father, calling him a traitor though he’s not done any treason since he knelt. We are stronger than we were before, we are in a better position to assert ourselves than we were before. Let us throw off the southern Yoke.” 

The men were nodding, that was good, though he did not know if it was him who should call to crown his brother. Before he had too much time to think about it men all over the room were standing and swords were being unsheathed. And a cry rose as one. 

“Eddard King of the North.” 


	9. A Lannister King

Casterly Rock 

Tyrston pulled his cloak around his shoulders as he walked to his Great Uncle’s solar. Technically,  _ he _ was the Lord of Casterly Rock now that his father was dead, but Uncle Kevan had always done the Lord’s duties. Uncle Kevan was supposed to be teaching Tyrston how to be a Lord, but he hadn’t done that. But his Uncle was the closest thing to a parent he had, not even two years after he had been born, his father Lord Tywin had called his mother back to King’s Landing, and had told her to leave her son behind. So Tyrston grew up alone in Casterly Rock. All his siblings were much older than him, even his half siblings. But he dared not talk about them, the Starks were traitors; it was why his father had to marry his mother, and why his mother could not raise him.

“Uncle?” Lord Kevan did not look up from what he was reading right away. Tyrston thought perhaps the man had not heard him, he was old and his hearing might be going. But just as he was about to call out again, the man looked up. 

“Good, you’re finally here.” Uncle Kevan was not a mean man, but he had never been overly kind to Tyrston. “You’re headed to King’s Landing on the marrow, see that you’re ready to go.” 

Tyrston nodded, he rarely got to visit King’s Landing, his father had not wanted his mother to corrupt him. And even when Lord Tywin had died when Tyrston was ten, he was not allowed to live with his mother, nor had his mother moved to Casterly Rock. He was on his way out when he realized he did not know the occasion of his visit to King’s Landing. He turned around to see his Uncle already reading again. 

“Uncle.  _ Why _ am I going to King’s Landing?” 

His uncle looked at him like he was stupid, shaking his head. He looked back down at the book in front of him as he answered. “You’re to be King.” 

Fear gripped Tryston; he did not know how to be king; he did not even know how to be Lord of Casterly Rock. How could he be King? In his veins his blood flowed like ice water, his chest seized and he can not breathe. 

“Tommen’s eldest daughter has-” 

“Has a daughter.” the man did not even look up. 

“Myrcella has a son.” Tyrston said pulling his cloak even tighter around him as if that would keep the cold out. As if the cold was not in his bones. 

“A Martell will never sit on the Iron Throne.” Still Tyrston’s uncle did not look up. 

“Then-Then Margaery must rule or her eldest brother Willas.” 

Finally Kevan looked up, his eyes piercing Tyrston so that he stepped back. 

“Lannisters have run the Kingdom since your father was named Hand to Aerys, but never in name. We have always been behind the scenes. Now is the chance to finally have a  _ Lannister _ crowned king. You will go to King’s Landing, and you will be King. There are still two years before you can rule in your own right. Your eldest sister will be your regent. Do what is told of you and someday you might go down in history as a good king.” 

Tyrston thought for a moment that his uncle might lie to him and tell him he would make a great king. But Tyrston knew that would be a lie, he would never be a great king, his uncle was right, his best at being remembered was to be a good king. 

“they might even give you credit for bringing the North to heel. Tyrston the Uniter, now go.”

Tyrston knew a dismissal when he heard one and left to pack his things. He could not help but think they would remember him as Tryston the Uniter, but only because he united the Martells and Tyrells against him. 


	10. A Brother, A King

Winterfell

Brandon had grown up knowing his brother might someday be king. When he was younger, he had thought that was a grand idea. And then as he grew up he liked the idea less and less. He knew his father’s plan, to keep all his children north so that one day they might simply declare that the North one again had its own king. He suspected, though he dare not say this to anyone, that his father knew they would kill him when he went south. That he hoped his death would be the spark for the North to crown Ned. 

Though Brandon had grown up knowing his brother might someday be king, that did not prepare him to see his brother sit in their father’s chair, a crown on his head. It felt wrong to kneel in front of his brother. But he dare not do anything else. The Lord Commander had warned him the crown would change his brother, as it had Jon’s brother. He did not know the man who wore the crown. 

“Stand Brandon.” The King still sounded like Ned, soft and gentle Ned, who Robb said took after his namesake. “The Night’s Watch is welcome here, and you are my brother. It has been a long time since I’ve seen you. I hear you’ve been made first, Ranger.” Brandon nodded, the King’s voice sounded like his brother’s voice, though the words he spoke were different, they sounded practiced. 

“The Night’s Watch does not send its First Ranger  _ south _ of the wall for nothing.” Ned said his smile too was the same smile Brandon remembered. 

“They will if he is the brother of a king.” 

“So it is not just any favor the Night’s Watch needs of me, it is one that must be softened by the face of my brother.” Ned stood and walked towards Brandon. “Come then, let us speak in my solar, we will drink ale. The Starks are friends of the Night’s Watch, you know that, Jon knows that. I will see what I can do for you.” 

Brandon followed Ned down the hall, to the room that used to be their father’s. A million memories came back to Brandon all at once. His father chastising him for fighting with his brothers, telling his father he would like to join the Night’s Watch, and thousands of other times standing in front of this desk. But now his brother sat behind it, laughing when Brandon did not take his seat right away. 

“Sit,” He waved at the chair Brandon wasn’t sure he’d ever sat in. He’d always faced his father standing, usually more nervous than not. Ned took the crown off his head, it was the same crown their father had worn, though how it had made it back north Brandon could not say. He’d heard the story of his father kneeling more times than he could count. The cold and dull crown laid at the feet of a boy wearing a crown that shimmered with gold and jewels. 

“Now what is it, the Night’s Watch would not send you south if you wanted to go through the dungeons. Perhaps if the Lords who had settled in The Gift were skimping on their taxes though.” Ned raised an eyebrow. 

“No, your grace-” 

“Please Brandon, you are my brother, there is no need for that.” Brandon only nodded. He did not know this man, and yet he claimed to know Brandon. He would have to ask Jon it had been the same with Robb. 

“Neither of those are the problems. But the Wall needs more men, the Lord Commander wants to open more of the castles, we can not properly man the Wall, it hasn’t been in years, hundreds of years. We need more men, and they must be fighting men.” 

Ned sat there for a moment considering before shaking his head. “Are the wildlings so bad? It seems that this spring is just a mild winter, I know the Watch is not what it used to be but surely the Wildlings can not be so bad.” 

Brandon shook his head. If only it  _ was _ the Wildlings, then perhaps Ned would give him the men,  _ fighting men, _ to take back to the wall. “No Ned, it’s not the Wildlings, Jon and I, we fear something is coming, we do not know what yet but we can feel it.” 

“You need fighting men so that you might guard against a feeling?” Ned sounded more like Thorren then than he did the Ned Brandon remembered, but he’d heard his brother Thorren had become quite the advisor to Ned. 

“The wall is seven hundred feet high and three hundred miles long. They say Brandon the Builder used magic to make it, and giants. They did not build a wall like that to keep Wildlings out. When whatever it was comes knocking we want to be ready.” 

Ned was quiet for a long time after that. Brandon felt himself staring to get fidgety. He did not know if it was the King in front of him or the memories of the room around him. Perhaps it was the fact that his brother might reject him out of hand as crazy to worry about such a thing. 

“Soon the Lannisters will beat back the Martells and Tyrells. The south will then turn it’s gaze North, I will need my fighting men to guard Moat Cailin and White Harbor. I do not know if I can spare fighting men, brother.” 

“The King is your uncle perhaps-” 

“The King is a Lannister.” There was fire in Ned’s voice, fire that Brandon was not sure he had ever heard from his brother. 

“Perhaps then, we will get men from King Lannister.” Brandon stood. He did not know if he wanted to spend the night in the castle. It had been so long since he’d slept in a feather bed, but suddenly the walls were stifling. 

“You would go to the Southern King?” Ned sounded upset, and though Brandon had not meant to upset his brother he thought it might work out in their favor. 

“I will not be going. The Lord Commander does not think that wise, but we have sent an envoy. The Night Watch takes no part in these things.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Robb's children  
> Eddard  
> Hoster  
> Brandon  
> Catelyn  
> Lyanna  
> Arya  
> Torrhen  
> Benjen  
> Sybil  
> Sansa


End file.
